Florida residents fight to save 200-year-old tree named 'Pink Floyd'

Residents in the Arlington Park neighborhood of Sarasota, Florida are doing everything they can to save 200-year-old-plus grand oak tree nicknamed "Pink Floyd."

The tree is, of course, located on Floyd Street and has a pink ribbon on it to mark for potential removal.

Developer Phuc "John" Pham recently purchased the .61 acre lot that "Pink Floyd" is on, along with four other old trees, for $825,000. Pham owns a number of properties in the area, and is planning to split the lot into five separate homes, according to the Herald-Tribune.

For that to happen, "Pink Floyd" would have to be removed.

Flo Entler, who lives down the street from the tree, is a founder of the Preserve Arlington Park Neighborhood Committee. She and others in the neighborhood have been trying their best to convince the city to preserve the tree.

"This tree, affectionately called 'Pink Floyd' by the locals, has been an icon in this neighborhood," Mary Boutieller, a founding member of the group, wrote on the website. "Several of its siblings on the same property also have pink ribbons around them. The property is currently under contract, and it will be potentially divided into five individual lots – Pink Floyd spans over two of those lots.

"Our state laws won’t protect it. Our city and county laws can’t protect it. Yet I wonder: At what point do sacred trees deserve our voice and our protection?"

Lucia Panica, the city’s director of development services, tried to convince Pham to let the city buy a portion of the land so they could save the tree and build a park around it. At first he appeared on board, but after negotiations started, he turned down the city.

The city valued the land between $240,000 and $300,000, but Pham asked for $5.5 million, according to the Herald-Tribune. $2.75 million of that was for the land, while the other half was so he could personally build the park.

There is currently a petition online with nearly 600 signatures to try and save "Pink Floyd" from getting torn down.

"We must make our voices heard," Boutieller said. "... Given our current state of affairs regarding the protection of these heritage trees, saving them may rely on the benevolence of the owner/developer, the creativity of an architect who can work with the trees and the willingness of the city to show that it cares what happens to them."

A vigil is scheduled to be held on Friday night at 2446 Floyd Street in honor of the tree.

"He could be the hero," Entler said. "He could be known as the guy who saved the tree."

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